premeditation
pree me duh tay shuhn
- n planning or plotting in advance of acting
- n (law) thought and intention to commit a crime well in advance of the crime; goes to show criminal intent
- THE enormity of killing one's fellow man with premeditation is the principal reason for the existence of the death penalty; it is also the principal argument for abolishing it.
- But Hance's trial in a military court for the second murder ended in the reversal of a life sentence after jurors determined that he lacked the capacity for premeditation.
- Attorneys for the other two defendants challenged the sufficiency of the proof of premeditation.